B’nai B’rith forges ahead

B’NAI B’rith Australia and New Zealand will welcome the president of B’nai B’rith International, Dennis Glick, to its annual conference this weekend.

The gathering, to be held in Sydney, will be run under the moniker “Forging Ahead”, which NSW president Diana Laufer said is about looking at different ways to develop the organisation, which was founded in New York more than 160 years ago.

“The main purpose [is] to come together, to share information, to learn from each other,” she said.

The event will also feature several guest speakers, including Paul O’Shea from the NSW Council for Christians and Jews and the author of Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices Against Oppression, Ida Lichter.

“We’ve got some very good speakers, we’ve got quite a large number of people coming from Melbourne, from Auckland and from Wellington, and we’ll be looking at ways of improving the profile of the organisation,” incoming national president James Altman said.

“Dennis Glick will talk to us about the situation of B’nai B’rith around the world, anti-Semitism and other issues of Jewish concern and what the international organisation of B’nai B’rith is doing to address those concerns,” Altman continued.

Glick will also officially install B’nai B’rith’s new Australia/New Zealand executive, including Altman, who is set to replace current national president Adrienne Perch, who is ¬≠stepping down.

“I’ve got a fantastic team who are going to be installed with me as the new executive on Monday night,” Altman said.

“We’ve got a lot of projects and we’re looking to see how we can expand them and to make more of an impact in the community.”

Current initiatives include retirement villages, the Courage to Care program, a Harmony Day poster competition and the Day of Jewish Culture and Heritage, to be held in Sydney at the end of this month.

But Altman said more work needed to be done, particularly around membership ­numbers.

“We need to find the right formula to make the programs of B’nai B’rith attractive and I’ve got a large number of ideas in terms of projects and initiatives,” he said. “My role as president and heading up the executive is to set up a framework to make these things work and [be] feasible, attractive and viable.

“It’s a great challenge, I’m looking forward to it,” he added.

GARETH NARUNSKY